Flyers need Mets-like collapse from Devils; Biron to face Florida; prospect signed
The Philadelphia Inquirer Blog - Flyers Report: Broad Street Bull
Flyers need Mets-like collapse from Devils; Biron to face Florida; prospect signed
Sam Carchidi, Inquirer Staff Writer
The Flyers' chances of overtaking the Atlantic-Division leading New Jersey Devils?
Very slim _ unless the Devils resemble the New York Mets and fold down the stretch.
The Flyers trail the Devils by seven points, but John Stevens' team has a game in hand.
If the Flyers go 8-2 the rest of the way, they would win the title if the Devils went 4-5 _ or worse.
If the Flyers go 7-3, they would need the Devils to go 3-6. Et cetera.
The Flyers have 10 games left, including two each against Florida, the New York Islanders, the New York Rangers and Toronto. They also have games against Boston and Ottawa. Out of that group, only the Rangers and Bruins would qualify for the playoffs if the season ended today.
The Devils have a more difficult schedule, but it would take a mini-collapse for them to finish behind the Flyers. New Jersey has nine games remaining, including five against current playoff qualifiers. New Jersey faces Chicago, Carolina (twice), the Rangers and Penguins, along with less-troublesome Tampa Bay, Buffalo, Toronto and Ottawa.
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Sizzling goalie Marty Biron, who is 6-2 with a 2.17 goals-against average and a .940 save percentage in his last eight starts, will face visiting Florida on Thursday. About 400 tickets remain, and it will be Scott Hartnell Wig Night.
Florida is a desperate team that is within an eyelash of a playoff spot. The Flyers defeated the Panthers, 3-2, in a Jan. 16 shootout, then dropped a 3-2 decision to Florida on Jan. 27. Both games were in South Florida.
Simon Gagne leads the Flyers with two goals in the season series, The Flyers own a 35-19-7-2 record in 63 lifetime contests against Florida, including a 13-10-6-2 mark on home ice.
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Flyers prospect Mario Kempe has signed an amateur tryout contract with the AHL Phantoms, according to club general manager Paul Holmgren.
Kempe, selected by the Flyers in the fifth round (122d overall) of the 2007 NHL draft, will make his Wachovia Spectrum debut Friday when the Phantoms open a three-game weekend homestand against Toronto. They will have matchups with Grand Rapids on Saturday and Sunday.
Flyers have no shot at catching the Devils, the Devils have something the Flyers haven't had in 20 years, a #1 goalie— BHite15
I don't think they have no shot. However I think "Snowball in hell" is a relative phrase. Doesn't matter. As long as they get into the playoff's with a head of steam, They should do fine. I'm sure Stevens will keep em focused on overtaking the devils, to keep them from falling into Lazy habits.— flyler- i think their best bet would be the 4th seed praying that carolina takes the 5th— SuPrimeau
- not much difference between teams that are 5 through 8. So in the 1st round it won't matter where the Flyers finish. If they get passed that, then its the next round where being a 4th vs being a 2nd seed will matter. But plenty of teams go deep from lower seeds, so in the end, just go in playing well, and lets hope Marty Biron keeps this going, and the Flyers should be fine.— cnova000
- why waste space on such a non-story as the Flyers catching the Devils. Wont happen...— Brauny
- i love your enthusiasm!!— flip77
- carolina? pssht - bring on the pens! we can play them (not just based on last week's game) and who wouldn't want to exact revenge from last year and boot them from the playoffs? last year they didn't want to play us in the first round, remember? it took losing our 2 best defensemen for them to beat us and if you watched how timmonen handled cindy and malkin (no shots on goal) last week, you know what i'm talking about.— philly57
- While have trying to catch the Devils is a good carrot to have at the end of the stick for this team in order to keep them playing well, I don't see it happening. If they keep playing this strong for the remaining couple of weeks I will be confident heading into the first round of the playoffs. As for who they would face? Careful what you wish. The Pens would be dangerous considering that the league will do all they can to help out Crosby. Then again, the Canes are one of the hotter teams in the league and playing just as strong as the Flyers. We have to wait and see how these next two weeks play out.— MH
- i dont care if they catch them or not for as long as they are playing like this im not worried at all.— z03mbm
- If our goalie continues his sizzling play of late, perhaps he'll no longer be tagged "Marty B, the lesser."— gilbi
